Archive for October, 2009

Have a laugh at my Southland accent, I know you want to.

I was going to throw in a few extra ‘R’ words but the memory stick ran out of space and cut me off.

-Michael

ローレル For Sale

October 9, 2009

Whilst doing some digging to try and find part numbers to the JDM IRS C32 shocks, I stumbled upon many things Laurel ( ローレル) and thought to myself, well hell, why not make an entry with a few different ones that are for sale currently on YAJ (Yahoo! Auctions Japan) .. SO!  Here goes;

C32, its like a GX61/71, but Nissan.

The C32, it's like a GX61/71, but Nissan.

This tidy example is up for 250,000JPY “Buy Now” roughly $3800 in New Zealand dollars. It’s a 2litre Auto but without any engine shots, it could be either L20E or RB20E powered.  The Hakosuka type boot spoiler fits quite well with the boxy shape.

(more…)

Car Parts Sculptures

October 8, 2009

It’s not a new thing and it’s not entirely automotive, however the Southland Museum & Art Gallery currently has an exhibition from a chap who turns car parts (amongst other things) into sculptures.  There was a good dozen or more there but not all of them took my fancy, the Museums policy of “no flash photography” meant that my photos are below average, however they’re still good enough to show you people some of the more interesting ones;

The Metal, its ALIVE!

The Metal, it's ALIVE!

All these sculptures are by Chris Meder, feel free to look him up, he’s probably got something somewhere to ogle online.  Perhaps.  If you’d rather just see the few more shots that I took, click the more.

(more…)

Nice car, not so nice price

October 7, 2009

Apologies for the lack of posts from my end lately – been quite busy with other things, though I have been hammering out a few articles in the back of my mind for eventual submission to the blog, and today’s mini-update somewhat relates to one of them.

sdfsd

here we have a tidy little “Series 2″ (or Mk4) Escort RS turbo, nice car ‘n all, but upon closer inspection the price is enough to give anyone a heart attack. And that’s pretty much it; I’ve never really understood what makes ’80s “European” Fords any more desirable than their Aussie or Japanese counterparts, but I can tell you now if I tried selling my TX3 for a similar amount I’d probably get laughed off the face of the earth.

Silliness and bullshit aside, stay tuned for a new ’80s turbo talk article in the coming week(s). By now you’ve most likely guessed what it’ll be about!

Ford Escort RS turbo for sale »

Being that I’ve been finding so many little bits of drama here and there on my way around the car, I figured it would be stupid to not take the rear window out after all the effort going in to remove problems from other areas.  So, today I whipped down to E Hayes & Son and got some White Spirits, I was greeted and served immediately.  It’s a lovely place, been around for ages and friendly staff, other than being a little slow on it.  Not that it mattered, it was a wonderful day today, a nice break in the horrible weather of late.  So I scooted home and began pouring some of the White Spirits onto the gap between the metal and the glass.  After a little while the White Spirits starts eating into the dry and horrible sealant keeping the window in place and it becomes extremely tacky, but with that, able to be sliced into with the aid of a wide putty knife.  Once I’d made a little gap, I poured some more in and let the spirits do it’s thing, then a run around the edges from the inside of the car, sliding between the glass and the sealant and I’d cleared enough for the glass to lift out with ease.  Albeit entirely messy, it gets the job done well and it doesn’t risk cracking what is quite a rare rear window to have to replace.  Once that was done, I was left with this;

Oh my, messy.

Oh my, messy.

(more…)